Too Many Slices

More data than the pie will hold

A pie chart displays the per cent of the whole is represented by the component elements. Four salesmen, four slices of pie.

The problem arises when there are 10 or so components that vary in size. The labels begin to overlap and the chart is difficult to read:

One suggestion that Chris Weber offers is to rearrange the order of the slices:

The article uses MS Graph in Access, but the techniques are applicable in all the other applications that can use graphs.

SmartAccess:
Easy as Pie. . .

"Chris Weber provides you with a generic method to control the data for pie charts that are actually readable."

(A downloadable example file is also provided


See all Topics word

Redact That!

Redact that!

Weapon of Mass Obfuscation

"Redaction is the careful editing of a document to remove confidential information.

The Microsoft Office Word 2003 Redaction Add-in makes it easy for you to mark sections of a document for redaction. You can then redact the document so that the sections you specified are blacked out. You can either print the redacted document or use it electronically.

Sensitive government documents, confidential legal documents, insurance contracts, and other sensitive documents are often redacted before being made available to the public. With the Word 2003+ Redaction Add-in, users of Microsoft Office Word 2003+ now have an effective, user-friendly tool to help them redact confidential text in Word documents."

The redacted document can be protected and saved. The add-in creates a copy of the original, so original material is still available.

Hide Information:
OfficeWatch.com

Word 2003 Redaction download

Word 2007 Redaction Tool


See all Topics

Wildcards

Seek and find

When you are looking for a particular word or file, wildcards can be used to refine the search.

An asterisk (*) can be used to represent any number of characters. A search for pop* would return popsicle, popcorn, pop1, pop2, pop37, pop29, and pop's favorite chair.

A question mark (?) is a stand-in for a single character. Popc??? would bring back only the word popcorn. Pop? searches for pop1 and pop2, but not pop37 etc.

That's a simple look at wildcards. Word has a rich variety of symbols that can do quite complex search and replace operations.

Here are some links to more detailed discussions:

Word MVP:
Using Wildcards

Felgall Pty Ltd:
Sydney, AustraliaWildcard information

Graham Mayor:
Find and Replace


See all Topics

Alternate Bullets

High caliber

There are other images that can be used as bullets in Word, PowerPoint, and HTML.
Allan Wyatt's Word Tips:

Using Words as Bullets

StackOverflow.com:

Make Custom Bullets
Using CSS

Shauna Kelly:

How to control bullets in Microsoft Word
Bullets, Numbers, and Lists





Troubleshooting Bullets and numbering


Also see:
Beyond Bullets.com

Beyond Bullet Points, the book


See all Topics word

Custom Dictionary

Spell it the way you want to!

Although Office has its own dictionary, it probably does not contain all the words and jargon that you use. If this is the case, you can add your own frequently used terms, and names to the dictionary.

1. Open Word
   
2. From the Tools menu, click Options
   (See link below for 2007)
   
3. Select the Spelling and Grammar tab
   
4. Click the Custom Dictionaries button
   
5. Place a check beside the dictionary you want to modify
   
6. Click the Modify button
   
7. In the Word field, type in the word you want to add to the dictionary and click the Add button Click OK
   
8. Click OK to close the Custom Dictionaries dialog box
   
9. Click OK to close the Options dialog box

If you want to remove a word from the dictionary, complete steps 1 through 7. Select the word you want to remove and click the Delete button.
The Custom.dic file is a text file. You can create it or edit it using notepad.
Multiple dictionaries can be created for special purposes, like a list of employee names.
The Custom.dic file is used by all of the Office applications that do Spell checking.
How to add a custom dictionary in Word

About.com: Working With Dictionaries in Word

Microsoft.com How to create an exclude dictionary in Word

Copy the Custom Dictionary to a Floppy Disk and Use It on Other Computers

Error when you add a word to the custom dictionary


See all Topics word

List All Files

All files in a folder

Here is a macro that will produce a list of all the files in a selected folder.

• The folder name for the listed files
  
• The file names of the files found
  
• The file sizes of the files found
  
• The dates and times of the files found
  
• The total number of files listed

Macro to List All Files in a Folder


See all Topics word

Free Photos

and other graphics

Robin Good has compiled a list of places that provide royalty free images.

" Finding quality images and photos for complementing an important article, essay or news report is already quite a challenge for many. Imagine when the goal is not just too find good images, but find some that you could openly and freely use without needing to pay royalties or one-time publishing rights to someone."

Free Photographs and Other Visuals

A dozen sources are listed including:
PD Photo.org

"PDPhoto.org is a repository for free public domain photos. Unless something is clearly marked as being copyrighted, you can assume it is free to use. But if you intend to use an image you find here for commercial use, please be aware that standards for such use are higher. Specifically, you should assume no model release was obtained. And pictures featuring products or property should be used with care. The photos are here to be used, but I don't want you to get either of us in trouble over it."

Copyright Information


See all Topics word

Microsoft Word 2007-2013 Tutorials

How it's done

Microsoft Office Online:

"It's time to get up to speed with Microsoft Office Word 2013. Learn the best ways to use the new Ribbon, get a handle on finding popular commands, and understand what the new file format does for you."

Microsoft Word 2013 Tutorial

Word 2010 for 2003 Upgraders

Also:

BayconGroup.com:

Microsoft Word 2007 Tutorial


See all Topics word

Word Form or Content

Shape or substance

"The legibility of a typeface should not be evaluated on its ability to generate a good word shape.

Word shape is no longer a viable model of word recognition. The bulk of scientific evidence says that we recognize a word's component letters, then use that visual information to recognize a word. In addition to perceptual information, we also use contextual information to help recognize words during ordinary reading, but that has no bearing on the word shape versus parallel letter recognition debate. "

The science of word recognition
by Kevin Larson
From EyeMagazine
Suggested by:
Microsoft Typography

Also see:
Cmabrigde


See all Topics word

Legal User's Guide

Object with style

"At first glance, you might think that not much has changed in the latest version of Microsoft Word; however, when you take a closer you look and discover the added collaboration functionality, research capabilities such as Encarta, translation and more, increased security, and new XML-enabled opportunities, you will quickly realize that Word 2003 offers even more benefits for the legal user."

Word 2003 Legal User's Guide

Charles Kenyon has put together the Intermediate User's Guide.
This Intermediate Users' Guide is based closely on the Legal Users' Guide and supplements it. It contains all the text from the original Legal Users' Guide together with additional guides and links to other resources.


See all Topics word

Unicode

Index resource

"Have you ever tried to include a passage in a different alphabet in one of your documents, for example a quotation in Russian in an English document, only to find that you have no Cyrillic characters available? Or sent a Spanish document in electronic form to someone in Greece, only to be told that the accented Latin characters have been replaced by Greek characters? Or produced a Web page that includes technical symbols and found that it works with Windows but not with Mac OS or Unix?"

Alan Wood's Unicode Resources
—
Unicode fonts for Windows computers

From the Word Help file:

If you know the Unicode (hexadecimal) value of a character, you can use the ALT+X keyboard shortcut to enter the character directly in your document.

Type the Unicode (hexadecimal) value of the character. Press ALT+X.
Note: The value string can also begin with U+.

Microsoft Word replaces the string to the left of the insertion point with the character you specified.

You can also use ALT+X to display the Unicode character code for a particular character. Place the insertion point to the right of the character, and then press ALT+X. The character is replaced by its character code. Press ALT+X again to switch back to the character.

• Љ — Hex=0409
  
• א — Hex=05D0
  
• ئ — Hex=0626
  

Editorium.com:
How to use Unicode characters in Microsoft Word

Also see:
Unicode Fonts and Keyboard
—
Unicode Macros


See all Topics word

Sequentially Number Documents

Budget0056.doc

Here's an example of how to use an external text file to record incremental numbering.

"Sometimes, when working on a project, you may want to save your documents in sequential order (for example, "0001", "0002", "0003", and so on).
If you wanted to do this manually, you would need to sort through your working directory for the latest file number before you could assign the next number to a new file.
Using this fairly straightforward Word macro, you can make creating sequenced files as easy as pressing a button."

LogicalExpressions.com:

Using Sequential Document Serial Numbers
(Allen Wyatt)

Also see:

Autonumber Invoices


See all Topics word

Special Characters

The other letters

• Ctrl+'
  Adds an acute accent to the character typed next

  Á

  
  
• Ctrl+'
  When followed by d or D, creates the old English character "eth"

  Ð

  
  
• Ctrl+`
  Adds a grave accent to the character typed next

  À

  
  
• Ctrl+^
  Adds a circumflex to the character typed next

  Â

  
  
• Ctrl+~
  Adds a tilde to the character typed next

  Ã

  
  
• Ctrl+:
  Adds a dieresis or umlaut to the character typed next

  Ä

  
  
• Ctrl+@
  Adds a degree symbol above the letters a and A; used primarily in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish

  Å

  
  
• Ctrl+&
  Creates combination or Germanic characters based on the character typed next

  Æ

  or

  ß

  
  
• Ctrl+,
  Adds a cedilla to the character typed next

  Ç

  
  
• Ctrl+/
  Adds a slash through the letters o and O; used primarily in Danish and Norwegian

  Ø

  
  
• Alt+Ctrl+?
  Creates an inverted question mark

  ¿

  
  
• Alt+Ctrl+!
  Creates an inverted exclamation mark
  

  ¡

  
  

Also see: Word MVPS.org:
How can I insert special characters, such as dingbats and accented letters, in my document? Article contributed by Suzanne S. Barnhill


See all Topics word

Typography for the rest of us

Real world fonts

Choosing a type face can be fun, but also overwhelming.

You want to convey the message without obscuring the thoughts in an avalanche of weird shapes.

Cameron Moll has a web site/Blog called Authentic Boredom; his "platitudinous web home."

Recently he explored:

The non-typographer's guide to practical typeface selection

"I honestly believe typeface selection is one of the most transparent ways of detecting good - and bad - design. You can tell plenty about a designer merely by the typefaces he/she chooses. So you'd be wise to start with trusted faces, and you'd be even wiser to know something about the history of each typeface."

Also see:
Who was that font I saw you with last night?


See all Topics word

AutoRecover

Recover zapped files

You can use the AutoRecover feature in Word to recover a Word document if your computer loses power or if an application error occurs while you are working in a document.

To set the AutoRecover feature in Word:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Choose the Save tab and select the "Save AutoRecover info every" check box.
Set the minutes box to the desired time interval between AutoRecover saves.



The AutoRecover feature does not replace the saving of a document. There is no feature in Word to automatically save your document files. You must periodically save your documents.

What Is the AutoRecover Feature in Word?

How Word creates and recovers the AutoRecover files

"When you perform a full save of your file, there is no way to go back to your original version. If the document was saved automatically, in many instances data would be lost because a full save is irreversible.

In contrast, AutoRecover does not overwrite your original file; this allows you to back out of most errors just by not saving changes when you close the file.

An AutoRecover file is created or updated each time there are changes that have not been saved at the end of the preset time period. You should perform a full save specifically based on progress you've made in your document rather than arbitrarily at regular time intervals.

NOTE: Another way to protect your work and maintain all of your changes is to use the Versions command on the File menu."

Also:

Word.MVPS.org:
How can I make Word save or back up my document automatically?


In Word 2007+ it's under "Office button">Word options> Save.

By design, Microsoft Word does not create an AutoRecover file when you are working in a master document, because the AutoRecover file format is not compatible with the master document file format.

When you use Word as your e-mail editor, Word does not create an AutoRecover (AutoSave) file of your e-mail message.


See all Topics word

Don't Check Spelling

Avoid the squiggles

Omitting text selections from Word's spell checking process

If you frequently include macro code listings or other chunks of cryptic information in your documents, Word's spell checker is likely to have a field day pointing out unrecognized words.

You can make Word's spell checker skip over code listings and other information that it is likely not to recognize by applying the No Proofing language setting.

1. Select the text you would like the spell checker to skip.
   
2. Next, select Tools>Language Set Language from the menu bar.
   
3. In the Mark Selected Text As list box, select the (No Proofing) option and then click OK.

From now on, the spell checker will skip over the text you selected without flagging any spelling or grammatical errors.
Alan Wyatt's WordTips site has a comprehensive list of spell checker links: Spelling and Grammar Checking

BTW: If you want to spell check Web forms and information boxes you fill out using Internet Explore, look at ieSpell:

"ieSpell is a free Internet Explorer browser extension that spell checks text input boxes on a webpage. It should come in particularly handy for users who do a lot of web-based text entry (e.g. web mails, forums, blogs, diaries).
Even if your web application already includes spell checking functionality, you might still want to install this utility because it is definitely much faster than a server-side solution. Plus you get to store and use your personal word list across all your applications, instead of maintaining separate ones on each application."

See all Topics word

Signing Macros

Security levels

There are three levels of Macro security:

High:

A computer user can open without a prompt a digitally signed project from a trusted publisher. Otherwise, the application blocks opening signed projects from untrusted publishers as well as unsigned projects.

Medium:

A computer user can open without a prompt a digitally signed project from a trusted publisher. In addition, you can also designate the publisher of a signed project as trusted so their projects will open without a prompt in the future. Unsigned projects are always prompted with a reminder that the file may contain potentially harmful code, but users can elect to open them anyway.

Low:

A computer user can open an unsigned project without a prompt. When users make a Low security setting, they're reminded that they aren't protected from potentially unsafe macros.

Securing Access Databases

"If you've used Access 2003, you've probably seen several security warning messages - Access 2003 cares about your security. An important part of Access 2003 security is digitally signing your code. As Rick Dobson shows, you can do it, but preparing for digital signing is critical.

A digital signature acts like shrink-wrap on your project: Clients know that they're getting a copy directly from you that no one else modified. Clients will also know that they're working with "your" code and not any version of it modified by a third party. As computing moves forward into a "security conscious" era, learning how to acquire and use a digital certificate is also important for interfacing with organizations that adopt policies of only running digitally signed Access 2003 projects: Your users may refuse to accept software from you that isn't shrink-wrapped."

Also:
Signing Access Projects
Other links:

How to make sure that your Office document has a valid digital signature in 2007 Office products and in Office 2003


See all Topics word

Sequentially Number Invoices

Creating sequentially numbered documents

Use an Autonew macro to add a sequential number to a document and save it with that number.

In the template from which you create the document, insert a bookmark named Order in the location where you want the sequential number to appear and create an AutoNew macro, as follows:

Sub AutoNew()
Order = System.PrivateProfileString("C:\Settings.Txt", "MacroSettings", "Order")
If Order = "" Then
Order = 1
Else
Order = Order + 1
End If
System.PrivateProfileString("C:\Settings.txt", "MacroSettings", "Order") = Order
ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("Order").Range.InsertBefore Format(Order, "00#")
ActiveDocument.SaveAs FileName:="path" & Format(Order, "00#")
End Sub 

If you do not need to display the number in the document, but just want to save it with a sequential number, there is no need to create the bookmark in the template and you should then delete the second last line of the code.

Article contributed by Doug Robbins
Word MVP Site


Microsoft Knowledgebase:
Macro to Increment Invoice Number to New Form Document


See all Topics word

Customize Envelopes

Your own #10

The default layout for envelopes is not sacrosanct to anyone but the postal service.
You can move objects around; add text and pictures.

GMayor.com:
Changing Word Envelope Layouts
Graham Mayor

PC Magazine.com
Custom Envelopes in Word


Microsoft Support:
Create and print envelopes for a mass mailing
40 minute lesson

About.com:
Customizing Envelopes with Pictures


Slipstick.com:
Printing Labels or Envelopes for Contacts
Inserting Addresses into Microsoft Word Documents

"One of the advantages to using Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook is the ability to use information from the Address Book in Microsoft Word documents. Exactly how to do it, though, isn't obvious. The key is an AutoText entry called AddressLayout. This article shows you how to change this entry and how to add an Insert Address button to the Word toolbar."

From Answers.com:

"USAGE NOTE The word envelope was borrowed into English from French during the early 18th century, and the first syllable acquired the pronunciation (on) as an approximation to the nasalized French pronunciation. Other similar words borrowed from French in the modern period include envoy (17th century), encore, ennui, ensemble, entree (18th century), entourage, and entrepreneur (19th century). Most retain their pseudo-French pronunciations, with the exception of envoy, which, like envelope, is mainly pronounced with (en) now."

See all Topics word

Personal Information

Clean it up

If you have enabled the "Allow fast saves" feature, earlier versions of your document, that you thought had been deleted, may still be readable.

If the document was edited with "Track Changes" enabled, a name is associated with each change. You can get rid of all the personal information with a few simple settings.

Choose Options from the Tools menu, click on the Save tab, and uncheck the box labeled "Allow fast saves". Now click on the Security tab and check the box titled "Remove personal information from this file on save".

In Word 2003 the check box's title is: "Remove personal information from file properties on save". When you save the file, the Author, Manager, Company, and Last saved by fields are cleared. Names in comments or edits are changed to simply Author. Any routing slip or e-mail header information is also removed. If the document contains tracked changes, you may want to accept them all before saving.

The Allow fast saves option is global. The Remove personal information option is specific to the current file and is present only in Word 2002 and later. If you want that option to be the default, click on the File Locations tab in the Tools> Options dialog and note the folder containing user templates. In that folder, open the file Normal.dot. Check the Remove personal information box as noted above, then save and close the file. All new files created from this point on will have that feature enabled by default.

Also see:
Charles Kenyon's Word Users Guide:

Confidentiality and MetaData in Word Documents


See all Topics word